[Showrider]

Thinking about getting some chickens to lay me some eggs

One problem:

I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CHICKENS!

We have a little pen thingy that chickens used to live in.. its half mesh half tin roof with a little railing for them to jump on and I could put little beds in there if they need it...

Lol can you tell I'm completely clueless?

Half of the pen is really really sunny during the day so it would keep it dry and warm.. then the other part is cooler if they get too hot..

So can you please tell me everything you know about laying hens? I've tried looking stuff up on the internet but I can't find anything useful, so maybe I'm just not looking right...

Thanks!

[JCH]

chooks are pretty easy to take care of once they are past the chick stage. Then its just a matter of giving then feed and water they will do the rest. I have 15 hens and 2 roosters 12 of the hens are from this spring and should start laying around the end of august. I dont know the size of your property but I let mine freerange they are excellent bug catchers. If you have anymore questions feel free to pm me anytime


john

[Jewl]

My grandma used to have some laying boxes for them. Just a row of wood with a short board about three or four inches between them some hay to nest in. We had the fun of feeding and collecting eggs when we visited. Grandma kept them penned up at night and let them out in the day to search out the bugs.

[Arabians4ME]

Chickens?! Do I ever have chickens!

I have no clue how many I have right now somewhere between 80-100. Mainly laying hens with a few roosters that are intermingled.

I would fix them a place that is rodent proof with roosts and some nesting boxes. We put roosts in front of our nesting boxes to conserve space and to keep the hens from breaking the eggs. We bed their boxes in shavings and then I put hay on top of the shavings. I lime the entire thing every two weeks.

Mine free range. I just ran 30 out of one stall at my house. My stalls that have horses in them full time I usually don't even have to pick poo out of because they have done eaten it. I just have to get the wet out. They scratch through all the rest of the poo and my manure pile looks like it's blown to smitherines right now. They chase me to the poop pile with the wheel barrow. I don't guess they have figured out they have already went through it.

Chickens don't really like heat they prefer cold.

If you are not going to let them free range you need 2-3 cubic feet per bird.

Feel free to check out my Animal Gallery to see a lot of pics of my chickens.

Make sure and get good laying breeds of chickens. That can be important.

Feel free to ask or PM me any questions.

[jeda_horse]

I have chickens. Have had the same lot for no joke around 7 years. (i never even thought they lived that long lol) they still lay too.

Mine are freerange and are happy to rub noses with all the local cats and dogs. Never had a prrblem. They eat scraps, bread whatever. We also give them layer mash too.

Easiest animal Ive ever had to take care of lol